It's time for color printer. My Epson 1520 is on its last legs (has been for some time).

The one I want is the Canon iP9900, but don't think I will print enough to justify a $500 printer. It's little brother is the iP8500 at about $350, and the reviews are not nearly as positive as for the 9900.

The HP 8250 gets great reviews, as do the higher end Epsons. My clients have had lousy luck with the Epson C8x printers, so I am rather down on Epson this month.

I expect to print some 8x10 or so photo quality images every month, more color web pages and some greeting card type output.

Location: In Connecticut, on the Housatonic River near its mouth at Long Island Sound.

Posts: 11,187

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobRoosth

Which Epson?

The tackiest, cheapest one, I think, and now about 2 or 3 years old: Epson Stylus C84.

And the manual did not explain this trick to me (at least not so I noticed it!), but a photographer friend who has had several Epson printers told me. And ever since then I have stopped having clogged nozzles.

kt: And the manual did not explain this trick to me (at least not so I noticed it!), but a photographer friend who has had several Epson printers told me. And ever since then I have stopped having clogged nozzles.

What happens when you turn the printer off is that it parks the heads which "seals" them from the air so you don't get dried out crap blocking the heads.

The rule of thumb with Epson inkjet printers is to turn them off when not in use and to turn them off via the printer's on/off switch not the surge protector switch (assuming you have the printer plugged into a surge protector) because when using the printer's on/off switch, the printer goes through a cycle down process that it wouldn't do if using the surge protector on/off switch...

The tackiest, cheapest one, I think, and now about 2 or 3 years old: Epson Stylus C84.

I have seen at least four C8x (80, 82, 84) printers simply die far too quickly. One started leaking ink, two simply stopped putting ink on the page after a cartridge change. Epson carts in both cases. Sounds as if you are doing better than that.

My 1520 still prints, but that is five year old technology. It is off most of the time and some of the plastic parts are broken so it will only feed one sheet at a time. There are two high school student living here part time, so color output for school projects is a good idea.

If I didn't want some photo quality, I'd get one of the HP Business Inkjet models. Solid, fast, four color machines. Found on online for about $150. It is much better made than the $99 printers.

Really? If I remember to turn my Epson printer off, it cleans the heads, and I do not have problems.

Really. I've thrown away one black-only Epson inkjet printer, and given away one that could only just be rescued after a few days (!) of cleaning - to replace the identical machine a friend had that he had to throw away. I certainly didn't print enough (let alone print enough in color) to avoid the ink drying out and clogging up the print heads - no matter automatic cleaning at shutdown.

My sturdy old HP laser (4ML) is stil going strong, and if I ever need a color printer (as opposed to "would be nice") I'll likely buy a (HP) color laser. But then I don't need to make photo-quality prints (and won't).